Closure latch



H. J. THOMAS CLOSURE LATCH Aug. 31, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 9, 1962 ATTORNEY Aug. 31, 1965 H. J. THOMAS 3,203,720

CLOSURE LATCH Filed July 9, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Ha man 176012205 I IIIIIII 1 ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,263,720 CLGSURE LATCH Herman 3. Thomas, Roseville, Mich, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Deiaware Filed July 9, 1962, Ser. No. 208,192 1 Claim. (Cl. 292-280) This invention relates to closure latches and more particularly to vehicle body door locks.

One feature of this invention is that it provides an improved vehicie body door lock. Another feature of this invention is that it provides a vehicle body door lock having two inside remote handle operating means. A further feature of this invention is that it provides a vehicle body door lock having two inside remote handle operating means which are operable selectively and independently of each other to operate the lock. Yet another feature of this invention is that it provides an improved vehicle body door lock having two inside remote operating handles and means pivotally and slidably connecting the handles to a lock operating lever to provide for selective and independent operation of the lever and release of the lock.

These and other features and advantages of the door lock of this invention will be readily apparent from the following specification and drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a partial side elevational view of a vehicle body having a door mounted thereon for movement between open and closed positions and embodying a door lock according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a portion of the door lock;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged partially broken away view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 33 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 4-4 of FIGURE 3, and

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 55 of FIGURE 4.

Referring now particularly to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, a vehicle body includes a front door 12 which is mounted on the body by suitable hinge means, not shown, adjacent the forward edge 14 of the door for movement between a closed position, as shown, and an open position, not shown. Door 12 mounts a door lock generally designated 16 according to this invention which is engageable with striker means mounted on the body pillar 18 opposite the jamb face or rear wall 29 of door 12 to hold the door in a closed position.

The door lock of this invention, except for the inside remote operating means, is the same as that shown in Cockburn et al 2,871,049. Accordingly, only a brief description of the door lock will be given and reference may be had to the above-noted patent for more specific details of the lock and the operation thereof. I

Generally, the lock includes a main frame 22 adapted to abut the rear wall or jamb face of the door 12 and to be secured thereto by suitable bolts 23 threaded into tapped openings 24 of the main frame. A side flange or extension 26 extends angularly to the main frame and overlies the inner panel of the door 12. A cam or detent member 28 is secured to one end of a shaft 29 which is rotatably mounted on the frame 22. As shown in FIGURE 3, a toothed rotary bolt 30 is fixed to the other end of the shaft 29 and is adapted to engage the teeth of a conventional striker assembly 32, mounted on the pillar 18, to hold the door in a closed position. Bolt 30 is housed within a housing 34 which is secured to the frame 22 and projects outwardly through an opening in the rear wall 20 of the door 12.

A detent lever 36 is pivotally mounted on a stud 33 fixed to the frame 22 and includes a foot 40 adapted to engage a shoulder 42 of one of the teeth 44 of the detent to normally hold the detent member against counterclockwise rotational movement and thereby hold the bolt 30 in engagement with the teeth of the striker assembly 32. The detent lever 36 is biased in a clockwise direction into engagement with the detent 28 by a coil torsion spring 46 mounted on the stud 38 and having one end thereof engaging the hook-shaped end 48 of the detent lever and the other end thereof engaging a notched lateral tab 50 of an outside operating lever 52 which is pivotally mounted on a stud 54 secured to the frame 22. Lever 52 includes a lateral tab 56 which is adapted to be engaged by a push rod 58 to swing to the outside lever clockwise about the stud 54. The push rod 58 is part of a conventional push button assembly 60 incorporated in an outside door handle 62. The outside operating lever 52 is pivoted at 64 to an intermittent lever 66 having legs 68 and 7.0. The leg 68 includes a lateral tab 72 which is pivotally and slidably received between a pair of legs 74 of an inside locking lever 76 which is pivoted on a stud 77 fixed to the side flange 26 for movement between an unlocked position, as shown, and a locked position, not shown, slightly counterclockwise to the locked position with the lever 76 being selectively and alternately held in either of these positions by an overcenter type coil torsion spring 79 hooked between the lever and the flange 26. Leg 70 normally lies in the path of a lateral tab 78 of a multiplier lever 80 which is pivoted at 82 on a stud fixed to the frame 22. The multiplier lever includes :a cam foot or extension 84 which is pivotally and slidably received within a recess 86 provided in the detent lever 36.

When the lock is in an unlocked position, as shown, the leg 70 is in the path of the tab 78 of the multiplier lever so that operation of the outside operating lever 52 will shift the intermittent lever 66 to the right tothereby swing the multiplier lever 80 clockwise about the stud 82 and in turn cam the detent lever 36 counterclockwise about the stud 38 to release the detent 28 and allow the teeth of the bolt 30 to move past the teeth of the striker assembly 32 so that the door may be opened. When the inside locking lever 76 is moved to its locked position, the legs 74 swing the intermittent lever 66 slightly clockwise about the pivot 64 so that the leg 70 is out of the path of the tab 78 so that operation of the outside locking lever will not release the latch. A conventional key lock cylinder 90, FIGURES 1 and 3, operates an actuator 92 so as to swing a lever 94 about its pivot 96 or frame 22. Lever 94 is coupled to the lever 76 by means of an elon gated link member 98 having the upper and lower bent ends thereof received within slots in both levers. A conventional garnish button 100, FIGURE 1, actuates a vertically shiftable rod 102 which is pivoted to a lever 104. Lever 104 is pivoted at 106 on the side flange 26 and includes a lateral tab 108 received within a slot 110 of the lever 76 so as to swing the lever 76 between its locked and unlocked positions. Further operation of the aforementioned door lock is given in the Cockburn et a1. patent and is accordingly not included herein.

The inside remote operating means of this invention includes an inside remote operating lever 112 pivoted on a stud 114 fixed to side flange 26. The lever 112 includes a hook-shaped end 116 which overlies a foot or extension 118 of the multiplier lever 80 so as to swing the multiplier lever clockwise and in turn cam the detent lever 36 counterclockwise whenever the lever 112 is swung counterclockwise. It will also be noted that the lever 112 is directly coupled to the detent lever 36 at all times by means of the multiplier lever 80.

Referring now particularly to FIGURES 2, 4 and 5 of the drawings, a shiftable rod 120 has one bent end thereof a pivoted to the lever 112 and the other bent end thereof pivotally and slidably received within an arcuate slot 122 provided in a lever 124 which is fixed to a shaft 126, slot 122 having its center at the axis of shaft 126. Shaft 126 is rotatably mounted in a bracket assembly 128 which is secured to the inner panel 130 of door 12. A front inside operating handle 132, FIGURE 1, is also fixed to the shaft 126 so that the operating handle and the lever 124 swing as a unit. It can be seen that upon swinging movement of the handle 132 so as to swing the lever 124 clockwise as viewed in FIGURE 4, the engagement of the right-hand end of the slot 122 with the bent end of the rod 120 will shift the rod 120 to the left, as viewed in this figure, r forwardly of the body, as viewed in FIG- URES 1 and 2, to thereby swing the lever 112 counterclockwise about the pivot 114 and release the detent 28, as previously described. Shifting movement of the rod 120 to the left relative to the lever 124, as viewed in FIGURE 4, will not result in any movement of the handle 132, since the. bent end of the rod 120 will merely slide within the slot 122.

The lever 112 further includes an extension or leg 134 which may be formed separately from the lever 112 and welded or otherwise fixedly secured thereto, as shown, or may be formed integrally with the lever 112 so that the lever in effect functions as a bellcrank lever. The free end of the extension 134 mounts a pin 136 which is pivotally and slidably received within a straight slot 138 provided in one end of a shifta-ble member or link 140. The other end of the link 140 is pivoted at 142 to a lever 144 fixed to a shaft 146. Shaft 146 is rotatably mounted on the inner panel 130 of the door by means of a bracket assembly 148, and the rear inside remote operating handle 150, FIGURE 1, is fixed to the shaft 146 so that the lever 144 and handle 150 rotate as a unit. Should the front inside remote handle 132 be operated as previously described, the extension 134 will swing clockwise with the lever 112 about the pivot 114, but the pin 136 which is fixed to this lever will merely move within the slot 138 to swing the lever 140 about the pivot 142 without operating either the lever 144 or the handle 150. Thus, the front inside remote handle may be selectively operated independently of operation of the rear inside remote handle.

Should the rear inside remote handle 152 be operated to swing the lever 144 clockwise, as viewed in FIGURE 4, the link 140 will be shifted upwardly and the engagement of the lower end of the slot 138 with the pin 136 will swing the extension 134 and the lever 112 clockwise about the pivot 114, or counterclockwise, as viewed in FIGURE 2, to release the detent 28. During this movement of the extension 134 and lever 112, the rod will be shifted to the left, as viewed in FIGURE 4, and the bent end of the rod will merely move within the slot 122 without in any manner operating the lever 124 or the handle 132. Thus, the rear inside remote handle may be selectively operated independently of operation of the front inside remote handle.

Thus, this invention provides a new and improved vehicle door lock which includes front and rear inside remote handles, each of which may be operated selectively and independently of the other so as to release the lock regardless of Whether the lock is in locked or unlocked position.

What is claimed is:

A latch for a front door of a vehicle, said door being hinged at its forward edge, said latch comprising, latch means located adjacent the free swinging edge of the door, detent means movable between latch engaging and latch releasing positions, outside operating means operable to move said detent means to latch releasing position first inside operating means operatively connected to said detent means and located remote from the free swinging edge of the door for ready accessibility by a front seat passenger and being generally inaccessible to a rear seat passenger, and second inside operating means operatively connected to said detent means and being spaced from said first operating means and located adjacent the free swinging edge of the door for ready accesibility by a rear seat passenger, said first and second inside operating means being independently operable to move said detent means to latch releasing position.

ReferencesCited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,329,120 9/43 King 292-280 X 2,476,332 7/49 Tierney et al.

2,862,750 12/58 Minke 292-3363 X 2,871,049 1/59 Cockburn et al 292-280 2,928,690 3/60 Larson 292--336.3

M. HENSON WOOD, JR., Primary Examiner. 

